diff --git a/libavcodec/options.c b/libavcodec/options.c
index 61689b48d9..53f13dab37 100644
--- a/libavcodec/options.c
+++ b/libavcodec/options.c
@@ -140,12 +140,10 @@ static int init_context_defaults(AVCodecContext *s, const AVCodec *codec)
 
     s->reordered_opaque    = AV_NOPTS_VALUE;
     if(codec && codec->priv_data_size){
-        if(!s->priv_data){
             s->priv_data= av_mallocz(codec->priv_data_size);
             if (!s->priv_data) {
                 return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
             }
-        }
         if(codec->priv_class){
             *(const AVClass**)s->priv_data = codec->priv_class;
             av_opt_set_defaults(s->priv_data);